At the 9AM Mass, we will offer “The Announcement of Easter and the Moveable Feasts,” and it happens on Epiphany as a musical and historical punctuation mark. Its tradition was before people had literacy and written or printed calendars. The people of God get to hear this lovely two-minute mini-Exsultet — it has some of the same musical themes as that epic Easter Vigil proclamation — and is a reminder of the ancient beginnings of our liturgy.
To begin with, it’s not complicated. The rubrics are fairly simple: “On the Epiphany of the Lord, after the singing of the Gospel, a deacon or cantor, in keeping with an ancient practice of the Holy Church, announces from the ambo the moveable feasts of the current year.”
The website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops puts it this way: “The Epiphany proclamation still has value. It is a reminder of the centrality of the resurrection of the Lord in the liturgical year and the importance of the great mysteries of faith which are celebrated each year.”